How much internet bandwidth does the CHeKT Bridge use?

How much internet bandwidth does the CHeKT Bridge use?

Data usage is an important factor to consider with any remote visual monitoring platform.  The upload speed of the locations Internet Service Provider (ISP) is what will impact a central station's ability to view video in a real-time manner.  The CHeKT Visual Monitoring platform and Bridge are designed to ensure that the customer internet upload bandwidth is as efficient as possible. Our devices only upload video to the CHeKT Monitoring portal when there is an alarm event or video has been requested by the monitoring center.   During all other conditions the video remains local to the site. 


LAN - (Local Area Network): The internal network of a site that includes all the local devices with-in the location's router.  Bandwidth in this LAN is typically high and can support local streaming of cameras to both a Bridge and a network recorder 24x7.

WAN - (Wide Area Network): The external side of a site's network that refers to the connection from the router to the global internet.  The WAN is typically provided by a regional ISP and the upload and download speeds of a WAN are based on the availability of the area and the service level paid for by the client. WAN networks typically can not support streaming of cameras 24x7.  The primary factor that affects this is the upload speed of a site.  The upload refers to the bandwidth available to push data out from a site to the internet.

Here is an overview of how our CHeKT Bridge Device and Portal function:


  • On the LAN side, the Bridge connects to the RTSP stream of all assigned cameras. (4 Max per Bridge).  The Bridge maintains a constant connection to the RTSP stream of each camera.  On the LAN you can think of the Bridge like an NVR that is recording 24 hrs per day.  The Bridge is not recording, but continually maintaining a video buffer of 2 minutes on each camera channel.  This function allows the Bridge to create pre-alarm video when an alarm occurs. The bridge minimizes LAN bandwidth and maximizes efficiency and speed by:
    • Connecting to the Secondary stream of the cameras. 
    • Adjust the stream FPS to 6 and the resolution to 640x360

  • On the WAN connection, the Bridge does not upload or stream video 24x7.  The only time video is uploaded from a site to the CHeKT Monitoring Portal is during the following situations. Otherwise the Bridge utilizes very little bandwidth.  (The data range can vary based on the bit rate and image complexity of each frame.)
    • An Alarm Zone Event: We upload 8 Snapshots (4 Seconds of video,  ~ 240KB to 560KB of data per clip.)
    • Monitoring Portal Live Video of Cameras:  This is only when someone is using the monitoring portal to view cameras,  (2 Minutes is ~ 3MB - 10MB of data per camera.)
    • Bridge Health Monitoring :The CHeKT Monitoring Portal performs health monitoring of all Bridges to ensure they are still online.  This occurs every 60 seconds and is ~ 10KB of data usage. 

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